An Alternate Solution
by ChuggingHJ7
Summary: Dipper's Grunkle is a lot of things, but trustworthy isn't one of them. So imagine Dipper's shock when Mabel chooses to believe Stan over him! And if that isn't bad enough, something goes wrong when the portal activates, and Dipper ends up alone in the multiverse. Now he has to avoid Bill's deals and survive until he can find a way home. But does he WANT to go home to that traitor?
1. Not What He Seems

"T-minus thirty-five seconds," the computer intoned, it's voice reverberating off the concrete walls of the underground lab.

Dipper flailed his arms wildly as he rose higher into the air. At any other time, he would be mystified by the portal's ability to shut off gravity, but the only thing he could focus on was his racing heart. He smacked into a wooden beam and grabbed onto it tightly.

"Dipper!" his sister cried from across the room. Her ankle was hooked on a wire connected to the shut off button. Hope wasn't lost!

"Mabel!" he cried back, "Hurry! Shut it down!" She nodded and climbed over to the lever, her hair floating behind her as if she were underwater.

"No!" Grunkle Stan started, "Mabel, Mabel wait!" Thankfully, Soos came to the rescue and tackled him in midair. "Soos, what are you doing?! I gave you an order!"

"Sorry, Mr. Pines - if that is your real name - but I have a new mission now! Protecting these kids!"

Dipper tightened his grip on the wooden beam and silently thanked the handyman for his undying loyalty.

Meanwhile, Stan wriggled in Soos's grip. "Soos, you idiot, let me go!"

Biting at the inside of his cheek, Dipper checked up on Mabel, who was hugging onto the lever. He knew he needed to do _something_, so he launched himself off the beam and knocked into Stan and Soos. "Go! Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!"

"No, you can't!" Stan shoved him down and reached out towards his grand-niece. "You gotta trust me!"

Tears flew up from Mabel's eyes as she glanced back and forth between Stan and Dipper. "Grunkle Stan, I don't even know, if you're my Grunkle!"

"Then listen to me. Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?"

The portal interrupted him with a flash and threw Dipper, Stan, and Soos against the wall. Dipper struggled against it, but he was pinned. "T-minus twenty seconds," the computer informed them tonelessly.

Next to him, Stan picked up where he left off. "I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true, but trust me. Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!"

"Family". Dipper scoffed and clenched his fists. What did that old liar know about family? Unfortunately, Mabel looked like she was buying it. "Mabel, what if he's lying?" he interjected, "This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!"

"Look into my eyes, Mabel! You really think I'm a bad guy?" Stan pleaded desperately.

Dipper scowled and yelled louder, "He's lying! Shut it down NOW!"

"Mabel, please!"

"Ten...nine..." the computer continued.

Poor Mabel looked between Dipper and Stan and started crying silently. "Grunkle Stan..." she choked out finally.

Dipper grinned. They had won!

The computer echoed deafeningly. "Six...five..."

She raised her hand to push the button and end all this nonsense...and then stopped at the last second. "...I trust you." She let herself float up towards the center of the portal and her tears floated up in the anti-gravity.

Unbelievable. She had betrayed him. His sister had picked a wrinkly, old con man over her OWN TWIN. "MABEL, ARE YOU CRAZY?!" He shoved off the wall and crashed into his sister, pushing her towards the opposite wall. "NOW WE'RE ALL GONNA-"

"One."

Blinding light poured from the center of the portal and the sound of screaming filled Dipper's ears. It wasn't until his raw throat started hurting that he realized that the screaming was his.

Blinded and rendered mute, Dipper Pines found himself losing consciousness.


	2. Making The Deal

"Good morning, Pine Tree!" an all-too-familiar voice crooned as Dipper pried his eyes open. He immediately squeezed them shut again in the hopes he was hallucinating. There was no way what he saw was real. He WASN'T in some cozy apartment-sized room covered in velvety walls, and there was NO giant fireplace roaring with warmth, and there most CERTAINLY wasn't a certain demonic triangle hovering over him.

Except there was, and there was no avoiding it. He opened his eyes again and made direct eye contact with none other than Bill Cipher. "What do you want from me?"

"What do _I_ from _you_?" the demon purred, an amused look in his eye, "Who says I need a reason to chat with my dear friend?"

"We're not friends."

"We're not? Oh, Pine Tree, you've wounded me!" He placed one of his thin hands over his bowtie dramatically.

Dipper crossed his arms and glared.

Bill glared right back for a second before shifting to a more amused expression. "I just figured you'd be nicer to me. After all, I saved your life."

"When? When you used me as a puppet and stuck forks into my arms?!"

The demon laughed. "Ah, that was fun...but no. When you first arrived here, in the nightmare realm. I could've EASILY let you be murdered by any of the beings hanging around here."

"Why didn't you?"

"I wanted to offer you a deal-"

"Absolutely not."

"Oh, come now. At least hear me out. After all, we're-"

"Not so different, you and I. Is that what you were going to tell me? I know cheesy tropes, too. That line never works," Dipper said with a scowl. Bill examined him closely for a minute before sighing.

"Fine. I'll get to the point. When your precious sister betrayed you, she let out someone I have...unfinished business with. If we work together, _you_ can show your sister just how wrong she was when she picked Stanley over you. All I ask in return is assistance tying up loose ends with an old colleague."

"...That picture of you is really lame," Dipper announced, gesturing to the painting of Bill hanging over the fireplace. Dipper refused to give Bill the satisfaction of a response, no matter _how_ reasonable his deal was.

"...I'm going to give you some time to think it over. And when I return, I hope you've reined in your sass," the demon ground out before vanishing with a flourish. Dipper was left alone, which meant he could try to find a way out. Then again, he was dealing with Bill of all people. He was SURE he was being watched from SOMEWHERE...Which meant Dipper was stuck. He decided to think over Bill's deal while he had the time.

On one hand, he DID want to get revenge on Mabel and that liar, but on the _other_ hand, Bill was just as big a liar as Stan, if not worse.

Stan...Dipper sat up straighter as the realization struck him. Bill had referred to him as Stan_ley_, but his name was Stan_ford_! ...Or WAS it? After all, he WAS a con-man. Dipper wouldn't be surprised to learn that Stan had lied about his identity. But why had Bill brought it up? It had to be for a reason...

"Time's up Pine Tree!" Bill reappeared and regarded Dipper curtly. "How are we doing? Still being a little sh-"

"I'll do it."

Bill's eye went from stern to intrigued. "Repeat that?"

"I'll accept your stupid deal. On one condition: you take me out to see what the nightmare realm looks like. Then I'll shake your hand."

_I hope this works_, Dipper prayed as he made eye contact with the demon that had been taunting him all Summer.

"...fine. But don't even _think_ about escaping. You'd be long dead before you can get anywhere NEAR a portal."

Bill took Dipper out of the ridiculous apartment and out into the nightmare realm. To Dipper, it looked exactly what somewhere called the "nightmare realm" would look like. Terrifying creatures lazed about on the Escher-esque architecture, and strange portals and inexplicable phenomena floated around carelessly. Dipper knew that no matter how casual the things looked, they wouldn't hesitate to kill him in the blink of an eye.

"Nice place you've got here," he muttered.

"Thanks, wise guy," Bill said.

Dipper could tell that the demon's patience was wearing thin. It wouldn't be long before Bill decided that he didn't _really_ need a noodle-armed tween to pull off whatever plan he had, and left Dipper to the nightmare realm beasts.

Next to them was a staircase that went upside down into the air. At the top was a swirling portal. _Perfect_! Dipper thought with a grin.

"Ok Pine Tree. You've had your look at the scenery. Time to shake on it." Bill held out his thin hand expectantly.

"Right." Dipper took a small step back. "Let me just-" and he took off running up the stairs, praying that Gravity worked differently in this realm. Miraculously, it did, as he easily ran up the stairs, completely upside down. Bill followed after him, yelling something about the ways he would kill Dipper once he got his hands on him.

As Dipper ran upside down, he noticed that the end of the stairs wasn't quite close enough to the portal. _Think, Dipper! Think_! And then he noticed a being with four heads about ten tounges and a few internal organs on its outside sleeping on the roof under the stairs. That was it!

"I'm gonna feed you your own organs!" Yelled Bill, close on Dipper's heels. This was it. Dipper reached the last step and leaped into the air, frantically trying to spin around again. He didn't quite reach, so he pushed off the creature's head with his hands instead. It woke up the creature, and it and grabbed at him angrily.

"Sorry, man!" Dipper said as he swam to the portal, slower than he'd like. _Almost there_! And then he stopped.

"Gotcha!" A certain triangle had him by the shoe.

"Nonono!" Shaking his noodle legs frantically, he managed to slip out of Bill's grasp at the expense of his sneaker, and into the pull of the swirling vortex.

Then he blacked out again.


	3. The Stranger On The Doorstep

Dipper Gleeful disdainfully drank from his mug of coffee, chastising himself for allowing his sister to prepare his drink. She always diluted her coffee with milk, and sugar, and cream, and anything else that struck her fancy as she went. He, on the other hand, preferred the bitter taste of black coffee. But his dear sister had been so very excited to make his coffee for him, and he was loathed to disappoint her.

"Do you like it, brother dear?" she asked him was an expectant expression.

He nodded silently and rose, placing his still half-full mug into the sink.

"You didn't finish."

"I have other things on my mind." He began the long walk to the basement laboratory. It used to belong to his Great Uncle Stanford, but the twins had since taken care of him and his brother, so the space was free for Dipper to use for his own experiments.

She followed after him. "Penny for your thoughts?"

He really did not have the time for silly colloquialisms and "small talk". "My thoughts cost far more than that, sister dear."

"Our shows are quite popular. I'm sure I can afford it," she replied instantly.

Dipper stopped and turned to face his sister. He opened his mouth to tell her to leave him alone but thought better of it. She was, after all, his sister. The last thing he wanted was for her to be upset with him. He began walking again, on his way to the basement.

"Well?" his sister followed him.

"You will have no interest in what I will be doing."

"Which is…?"

"A lot of mathematical calculations. If you join me you shall be bored out of your mind."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his sister pause. She turned and walked back down the hall muttering something involving the word "nerd."

Dipper Gleeful never thought of himself as a "nerd", no matter how many times his sister insisted he was. To him, "nerd" implied braces and glasses, and an affinity for dungeons and dragons. None of those applied to Dipper even remotely. He just preferred science to...most other things. It was based completely on facts, and everything had its correct answer. No room for uncertainty. It was comforting.

Besides, watching colorful liquid bubble in an Erlenmeyer flask was quite aesthetically pleasing, as long as you were wearing proper eyewear and knew what, precisely, was bubbling and why. Every question always had an answer in his laboratory. And those that did not, were pondered over until an answer was assigned to them.

Dipper knew his sister had been crestfallen that he had not included her. And truthfully, things may have been more entertaining with her around. Usually playing music softly in the background was enough, but strangely, he found the entire laboratory insufferably boring that day. After giving himself an hour and a half, he found he could not bear being in the basement any longer. Irritably, he left to find his sister.

Mabel Gleeful was brushing her long hair at her vanity when Dipper entered the room. He nodded hello to her, and she nodded back without turning around. Mabel spun around to face him just as he lowered himself into a chair.

"Miss me?" she asked.

"As if," he scoffed. As in, 'as if he would tell her yes'. He and his sister had been through so much together, and truthfully, he couldn't stand to be away from her for very long. She was the same way, of course. Dipper knew that this codependency was a problem to be addressed, but he'd been putting it off for months and did not plan to stop doing so any time soon.

Mabel turned back to her mirror, and Dipper selected a book from her shelf to read in the meantime. They didn't exchange another word, but they didn't need to.

A few hours later, the doorbell rang, which is an extremely unusual occurrence. Dipper exchanged a look with his sister and they simultaneously got up to answer the door. "I shall open it, sister dear," Dipper said. Just in case the person on the other end of the door was not the friendly sort. Mabel obediently took a few steps back as he turned the knob.

The boy on the doorstep wore a hat similar to Gideon's, but his hair was not the same unmistakeable white. He only wore one sneaker and his clothing was disheveled and muddy. Dipper blinked at the boy in confusion. He seemed...strangely familiar. "What do I.." Dipper began to mutter to himself. Next to him, his sister let out a shocked gasp. And that was when it clicked. Dipper recognized the boy from his reflection in the mirror every day. On almost all accounts, they were identical, right down to the birthmark on their foreheads. The biggest differences were the clothing and the fact that this boy seemed younger than Dipper and his sister.

But...what was this doppelganger doing at their doorstep?


End file.
